Meet the new WineDirect

Welcome to our new website! We’ve recently made some big changes to offer you a more seamless DTC experience, including folding Vin65 into the WineDirect brand. Got questions? Learn more here, or

Before you go

Download our free ebook, Break Into the Top 20% of Wineries.

Informed by our own proprietary data from over 1,500 wineries, our popular ebook takes a close look at the wine industry’s most effective direct-to-consumer sales operations and provides actionable advice for every winery—because we believe all wineries deserve to know how today’s consumers think and how to maximize their potential.

VIN65 is now

As of November 2nd, Vin65 is now WineDirect. We've made this change to offer you a more seamless DTC experience. You'll see that our branding has changed, but our commitment to providing you with best-in-class DTC software remains the same. Got questions? Learn more here, or

5 Tips For Your Winery Website This Holiday Season

October, November, December (OND) is in full swing. Smart retailers are already starting to focus on holiday promotions for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the gift-giving season.

Have you ever had a Christmas where someone didn't bring wine over to your house to enjoy with dinner, or as a gift? I personally can't remember a Christmas where I didn't swing by the store to pick up a bottle.

For wineries, it's essential to start your marketing early. Target customers and pull them to your online wine store. Get your customers to stock up now, so those last minute runs don't need to be the norm. Use your excellent marketing and target customers with irresistible holiday offers. Better yet, provide festive recommendations and help them buy for their mother-in-law. Come up with something new, like a mixed case - something for everyone on their Christmas list!

Here are 5 ways to get your website ready to sell more wine over the holidays:

1. Make Sure You're Secure

A secure site is very important to online shoppers. If you're expecting customers to enter credit card information, then making your entire site secure (SSL compliant) is a must. The holidays aren't only a busy time for you and your winery, but also for hackers - so keep your customers' information safe. You'll sell more wine online when you can ease the customer purchasing decision and remove any barriers to complete an order. As a bonus, Google is now ranking SSL compliant sites better for SEO.

2. Speed Matters

40% of people abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load, according to KISSMetrics. If your site takes as long to load as it takes for me to decide what to get someone, then some work needs to be done. Customers are impatient - pay special attention to image types that can affect your site speed dramatically, and have a discussion with your designer on getting load times faster.

3. Fix Broken Links

There's nothing worse than not being able to get to where you want. You should be buying wine from your site every month to uncover any friction points that your customers may experience - don't forget about link functionality. Make sure links from your emails work. At the very least, have a friendly error screen - and ask people to let you know how they got there. You can learn how to find and fix broken links with Google Webmaster Tools.

4. Pay Attention to Design

Your website design should reflect the holiday season. Update pictures to reflect the season, add festive details and curate gift ideas that match your brand. This season, you want to make sure your website looks great - on any device. Talk to one of our certified designers for more design ideas.

5. Get Mobile

People are glued to their smart phones. 27% of your web traffic is coming from a mobile device - looking at product reviews, researching wine types and telling their facebook friends about their new favorite wine. Make sure that 27% of your online traffic can successfully purchase on your site from a mobile device.